Meningitis outbreak update: Two more cases found in TN

Case numbers rise to 198

Oct. 13, 2012

Written by

Brian Haas

The Tennessean

Updated at 1:25 p.m.

An Indiana patient has died and federal health officials say the number of infections in the United States has risen to 198.

That includes the 197 meningitis cases and one infection in a joint.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control Saturday afternoon said that 13 additional meningitis cases have been confirmed, at least two of those in Tennessee. The Indiana death raises the nationwide death toll to 15, with six of those in Tennessee.

Previously reported:

Tennessee health officials have found two more cases of meningitis, bringing the state’s total to 52, according to a Saturday morning update.

The Tennessee Department of Health released the update just before noon Saturday, saying that the death toll from the outbreak remains at six. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has not yet updated the number of nationwide meningitis cases, which as of yesterday totaled 184 with an additional Michigan patient diagnosed as having a joint infection caused by contaminated medicine. The nationwide death toll was 14.

Tennessee health officials said they have determined that a June shipment of methylprednisolone used to treat patients is not among the recalled lots from the New England Compounding Center. There had previously been worries that 111 patients at Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center who received injections with the June steroids may have been injected with the recalled medications. Those patients appear to be in the clear.

"We think that's good news for all those folks,” said Woody McMillin, spokesman for the Department of Health. “It appears they are contaminant-free.”

Officials say anyone who may have had epidural steroid injection at PCA Pain Center in Oak Ridge, Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center in Nashville and the Specialty Surgery Center in Crossville should call their health care provider. Anyone wanting more information about the outbreak can call the Tennessee Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222.

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